In dogmatic thinking this beginning is usually indicated by the word “regeneration”, although there is also room for a broader use of this word. The very word “regeneration” (or: rebirth) indicates how radical the work of the Spirit is when he is working in us; he does not simply patch us up, but he causes us to be born again. Nothing less than a total spiritual renewal of our heart, the centre of our life, is taking place.

At this time we want to consider the question: How does the Holy Spirit operate when he touches our hearts in this way? Does he use the Word, or is there a direct action of the Spirit upon our hearts? What are we to think when the Canons of Dort call the gospel the “seed of regeneration” (CoD III/IV.17)?

In Us Without Us⤒🔗

With the Canons of Dort we confess that regeneration is something that God brings about “in us without us” (CoD III/IV.12). With this confession, the fathers of Dort strongly oppose the view of the Remonstrants. The latter did not only err with regard to election, but also with regard to regeneration, the work of the Holy Spirit at the start of our sanctification. That is why we also find an extensive chapter in the Canons (ch. III/IV) about man’s conversion to God. The Remonstrants aimed to do justice to what makes a human being truly human: his intellect and his free will. When the Holy Spirit takes hold of us and works our regeneration, he does not treat us like “blocks and stones” (CoD III/IV.16). His work, therefore, is not happening “without us”. It does not take place apart from the consent of our intellect and the choice of our will. In the preaching, the Spirit acts on our intellect and will. God comes to us in the preaching with an “earnest and sincere call”. Through this call people allow themselves to be persuaded, and so they come to the right choice. When grace comes first it is no more than an “advising grace” (see III/IV, Error 7).

Anyone who speaks here of the invincible and powerful work of the Holy Spirit does not do full justice to the humanity of man. God does not act here “without us”. Between unbelief and faith there is our reasoning and our will, both of which are to cooperate if regeneration is to take place.

Over against this view of the Remonstrants, the reformed people have confessed the “im-mediate” aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of our sanctification. When they spoke in this context of “im-mediate regeneration” they did not mean that the Spirit is at work here without the Word, but that his renewing work in us is not dependent on the consent of our mind or intellect and the choice of our will. The activity of the Holy Spirit is im-mediate in the sense that nothing stands between this work and the renewal of our hearts. Thus the expression “im-mediate regeneration” represents a strong protest against the Remonstrant idea that man in his conversion “cooperates with God’s grace”.¹ There is no question here of any human cooperation. The Holy Spirit works this “in us without us”. The fact that a man is born again, regenerated, is due solely to the grace of God’s Spirit!

Abraham Kuyper←⤒🔗

The expression “im-mediate regeneration” is often used in a different sense than our reformed fathers used it. It then indicates that the first change of our hearts takes place by a direct operation of the Holy Spirit, in which the Word does not play a role. A deaf person cannot hear and a dead person cannot rise. For the Word to be heard, the Holy Spirit must open our hearts and make them alive. This now happens by a direct working of the Spirit and therefore we speak of “im-mediate regeneration”.

Dr. A. Kuyper (1837-1920) was, as we know, a strong defender of this im-mediate rebirth. We have already seen how Kuyper believes that regeneration is about the implantation of a seed of life, about the introduction of something into the core of our personality, about the pouring into us the capacity for faith. The way in which the Holy Spirit is at work here, according to Kuyper, can be seen in a small child.² It cannot as yet hear the preached Word. All “moral” training is excluded here. It is precisely with such a young child that we see how God works im-mediately in implanting the seed of life.³ We do not speak here of any exhortation or of the child listening. The child is totally passive. It is God who is achieving something with the child. Therefore, regeneration “has nothing to do with all those other workings of God by which he works on us through means, as he does this through the Word, through the Sacraments, through our life experiences, by way of all kinds of encounters, etc. There is no mediating effect of any kind in the regeneration. When God regenerates a sinner to life, he does so directly and im-mediately, without any intervening medium or instrument.”⁴

As a result Kuyper arrived at a different order of salvation ⁵ than was commonly understood among reformed believers. With Kuyper, it was not God’s call that came first, but regeneration. For Kuyper the calling only functions at the time of “conversion”, which Kuyper sharply distinguishes from the first renewal or regeneration.⁶ At the time of rebirth, a seed of life is introduced; the capacity to believe is implanted. This is done by the Holy Spirit without the Word, in other words: directly. However, for this new life to germinate, for it to reach the act of faith, the Word is then the indispensable means. The latent life is awakened by the call.⁷ The voice of the gospel causes what is “dormant” to truly come alive. The preaching therefore also goes out to people who have already been made alive, and calls those who have already been born again to conversion.⁸

Herman Bavinck←⤒🔗

Kuyper’s view did not remain unchallenged. We are thinking here especially of Dr. H. Bavinck (1854-1921), the theologian, who next to Kuyper exercised great influence in reformed circles. In 1903 Bavinck published a study on calling and regeneration, in which he unmistakably criticizes Kuyper’s vision.⁹

In contrast to Kuyper, Bavinck follows Calvin and the older reformed view in regards to the “order of salvation”, where the call precedes regeneration. He wants to insist emphatically that the Word that is preached is the seed of regeneration. Indeed, the deaf cannot hear the voice of gospel, but for Bavinck this does not mean that the start of our sanctification takes place without the medium of the Word.

“Deaf people cannot hear, but God can make them hear under and in connection with the outward call. The dead cannot rise, but God is able to plant the seed of life in their hearts through the Word, so that they rise up with the prodigal son and will go to the Father. In all these cases, regeneration is linked to being earnestly called, and the activity of the Spirit to the ministry of the Word.“¹⁰

Bavinck makes numerous statements that give the impression that he is doing justice to the confession of the Canons of Dort, i.e., that “it has pleased God to begin his work of grace in us by the preaching the gospel” (CoD V.14). But a close reading reveals that this is not the case after all. This is because Bavinck believes that the Word “considered in itself” and as such cannot exert anything but a “moral, advising effect”.¹¹ There is only a “moral effect” emanating from the Word on our minds.¹²

For regeneration to take place, the Word must be accompanied by “a powerful, unfailing, direct operation of the Holy Spirit”,¹³ and the Holy Spirit must “couple” his operation to the Word¹⁴ and penetrate man’s heart with his almighty power.

It is characteristic of Bavinck when he states: “Because the Word, in accordance with its nature and teaching, can only have a moral influence, the saving hearing of the Word is preceded by regeneration, not always in time, but certainly in terms of order.”¹⁵

For Bavinck, therefore, regeneration does not take place through the Word. Nevertheless, he wants to continue to regard the Word as a seed of regeneration and does not want to separate the outward call from the hidden activity of the Spirit. His solution therefore is this: “Thus regeneration takes place under the Word, by the Word, with the Word, but does not take place through the Word...”¹⁶ God works regeneration where the Word is and where it is being proclaimed. Although Bavinck argues against Kuyper to begin again with the calling in the order of salvation, in my opinion he is not consistent. The hearing of the Word is preceded by regeneration. Not always in time, but in order. In order to hear the Word effectively, it first requires an act of the Holy Spirit who opens up the heart to the Word. And this first act of the Spirit takes place in connection with the Word, but not through the Word. Dr. R.H. Bremmer is therefore correct when he says that Bavinck, on this decisive point, crossed the line of those whom he sought to oppose.¹⁷ Because Bavinck limited the effectiveness of the Word to a moral, advising one, he was prevented from doing justice to the confession of the Canons of Dort that it has pleased God to begin his work of grace in us through the preaching of the gospel, and to the Word as a seed of regeneration.

The Little Children←⤒🔗

G.C. Berkouwer points out how in the reflections of Kuyper and Bavinck on regeneration the salvation of children of the believers who die in their infancy plays an important role.¹⁸ If one cannot see God’s kingdom without a rebirth (see John 3:3), what about little children who die young? With this question in mind, people began to think about the possibility of regeneration prior to faith and conversion. If there is to be salvation for such little ones, there must be a regenerating work of the Spirit that is not accompanied by an outward call through the preaching of the gospel.

For Kuyper it is a foregone conclusion “For a one-year-old girl does not hear the Word.”¹⁹
Therefore, the first regeneration is an act of God that is not bound to the means of the Word. If the Holy Spirit would be working through the Word, then the children who died at a young age would be lost. However, in regeneration there is a direct activity of the Spirit, without the intervention of the Word.

Bavinck expresses himself more cautiously. He does not want to derive a general rule out of what God does with these children, as Kuyper did. Bavinck believes that the regeneration does takes place with the, yet without the means of the Word.²⁰ However, he does not go so far as to sever any connection with the call through the Word. It is precisely as children of the covenant that these children are called for God’s sake: “Even though they do not understand the things of the gospel for themselves, they are called with and in their parents ...as the offspring of Christian parents, they are not separated from the ministry of the Word, but connected with it, internally called by the Holy Spirit and thus incorporated into Christ through regeneration.²¹ As A.A. van Ruler notes: Bavinck makes a giant mental stretch in order to somewhat hold on to the connection between calling and regeneration, yet it has to be said that as far as little children are concerned, he comes close to Kuyper’s point of view.

It is remarkable that in his argumentation Bavinck refers to the Canons of Dort, I. 17, where the church confesses what god-fearing parents may believe regarding children who die in their infancy. Apparently he thought that his view found support in what is stated there. However, it is not the case. The Canons are silent about what God is doing to these children. There is no mention of their regeneration. The Canons respectfully state that the hidden things belong to the Lord, our God. They speak about the holiness of the children of the believers by virtue of the covenant of grace. Therefore, God-fearing parents do not need to doubt the preservation of their young children in case they die. It is remarkable that in this regard the Canons did not follow Calvin ²² but based everything on the glorious truth of the covenant! Any speculation of regeneration in regard to these children pales against this truth.

Confession and Scripture←⤒🔗

We already heard the Canons say that it pleased God to begin his work of grace in us by the preaching of the gospel (V.14). Typical for our confession is that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Word, who through the (preached) Word is active in his regenerating work in and to us. The Heidelberg Catechism says in Answer 21 that the Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts through the gospel. In Answer 65 it is confessed that the Spirit works faith in our hearts “through the proclamation of the holy gospel”. The Belgic Confession speaks in Article 24 of true faith, which “is worked in man by the hearing of God’s Word and by the operation of the Holy Spirit”. Article 35 speaks of “the second birth that is effected by the Word of the gospel”. The Canons state that God decided “effectually to call and draw them [the elect] into his communion through his Word and Spirit”, while I.16 mentions “the means through which God has promised to work these things in us”. Elsewhere, the Canons speak of “the supernatural working of God whereby he regenerates us”, and it is pointed out that this working does not exclude “the use of the gospel, which the most wise God has ordained to be the seed of regeneration and the food for the soul” (III/IV. 17). In V.7 reference is made to “the imperishable seed” from which true believers are born again.

Our confession unmistakably teaches that the coming to life of our hearts or the rebirth as the beginning of our sanctification is a work of the Holy Spirit, which he accomplishes through the (preached) Word.

In my opinion, the confession faithfully echoes the Scriptures in this confession. Through the preaching of Peter people came to repentance on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37). Paul says that faith is through the hearing of the Word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). The apostle writes that it pleased God through the folly of preaching to save those who believe (1 Cor. 1:21). He calls the word of the cross [the preaching] “the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). James writes, “Of his own will he brought us forth (birthed) by the word of truth” (James 1:18). And Peter reminds his readers that they “have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).²³ Regeneration, therefore, is indeed through the Word — as a means in the hand of God the Holy Spirit! That is – in the words of John Calvin — “the ordinary administration and management” that God tends to observe in the calling of his own. In his sovereignty God can also find other ways, however in our thinking about these things we have to stay with what the Scriptures teach us so clearly.

In a subsequent and final article, I would like to deal more with the relationship between the Spirit and the Word.